It looked really good when a friend of mine was trying it on. Like everything that tries to be all things to all people (Swiss army knives, Leatherman, the sporks with knife-edge, etc), it has some deficiencies in some areas. In particular, it is a bit on the large size, which makes me worry a bit about it catching on branches when going through heavily wooded and bushy areas. I am tempted to get one myself, though, because it does so much so well. Bo told me it was designed originally for the Swedish military, though it is really lightweight for something made for military units.

The interesting thing about the bivanorak is that no other firms really make anything similar. As a stash-in-the-rucksack-just-in-case item it's got a lot going for it. I really wish Hilleberg and Tarp Tent had local dealers as I would love to examine each and every product.